chroniclesofarnfandomcom-20200214-history
History: Baron's Gate
It is difficult to discuss the history of Baron's Gate without also discussing the events that transpired that brought the House of Karn to power. Baron's Hold The Red Wall After the last of the Hobgoblin tribes were defeated and chased south of the Red Cliffs , the decision was made by the King of Kel Arn to construct a massive wall along the top of the Red Cliffs to prevent the Hobgoblinfrom every crawling out of the Southlands to challenge the authority of the human kingdoms. The work began in 520 KR with what few Hobgoblin that had been captured being immediately put to work quarying the red limestone to make the blocks necessary to create the massive stone wall. Meanwhile, the sleepy fortress of Barren's Hold was continueing to acquire materials and supplies even though the war with the Hobgoblin tribes had concluded. The fortress that was being built along the wall to maintain the garrison there was drawing supplies occasionally but the surplus was building almost faster than they could use it. House of Karn Many years later the House of Karn 'arranged' to move into the small settlement of Barren's Hold and quickly began amassing power. To celebrate the birthday of the Lord of Baron's Hold, a patrol was arranged by Dyson of House of Karn, inviting the original ruler of Baron's Hold to perform one last sweep of the lands near the red cliffs to be certain that there were no orc outposts or clans in the area. When the patrol had returned, the original leader of Baron's Hold and all of the sons and guards that escorted him were dead - killed by Hobgoblin javelin's. The emissary for the king was 'convinced' to appoint the House of Karn to command the fortress and replace the original House. The House of Karn took possession of the town of Baron's Hold in the summer of 978 KR Once the King's forces were gone, the leader of the House of Karn contacted the garrison commander on the wall with new orders that the existing orc labor force was not to be released, as the King had said that he would, but rather they would be put to work quarying additional stone to fortify Barren's Hold - should the wall fail. By the time the Red Wall was completed, there weren't many orcs left in any condition to continue mining and so the House of Karn 'interpeted' the King's will to asert that the garrison on the wall should round up as many orc slaves as possible and yolk them to quarry any all available materials for the construction of the new fortress. Although the orcs were never permitted north of the Red Wall (as stated within the King's edict), they were used to quarry the red limestone which was then loaded on skiffs and hauled up the Red Road, through the gates and back to Barren's Hold by the human builders. Originally these blocks were moved by teams of workers who were under contract to the garrison at the Wall, but with the wall completed they were eager to return to their homes. Dyson Karn, the patriarch of the House of Karn, convinced the workers to stay for another year to assist in the construction of the 'improvements' at Barren's Gate by offering them a percentage of the profit that they would gain by selling the surplus goods that continued to be delivered to the fortress for use at the Wall. Karn's Betrayal Since Barren's Hold was located on the shores of the Dunharro River , moving supplies to them from the Marches was fairly easy. Moving the supplies from the Hold to the Wall, however, was very labor intensive and took considerable effort - or so Dyson would let the garrison commander believe. Each month the supply wagons would arrive at the Wall and each month there seemed to be less and less to go around. The garrison commander suspected Dyson of cheating the men on the Wall and sent a courier back to Kel Arn to inquire as to the nature of their supplies. When he recieved word that the intended supplies were being stopped and confiscated by the forces of Barren's Hold - he gathered up a group of his best warriors and set out to claim what was rightfully his. That was his first mistake. By the time that the force of soldiers arrived at Barren's Hold, some twenty miles away, Dyson had already received word of their approach from the commander's second in command. When the commander demanded the supplies that rightfully belonged to the garrison on the Wall, the gates swung shut and archers appeared on the wall - trapping the force of men inside the courtyard. With a wave of his hand, the archers let their arrows fly and all but one of the soldiers were killed. The survivor was the Commander's second in command - who was quickly revived by a cleric loyal to the House of Karn. The arrows were removed from the bodies of the fallen soldiers and replaced with orc arrows. They were then taken outside of the walls and positioned to where they would be found by any additional force that might be on its way from the Wall. Sure enough the site of the fallen soldiers was spotted by another wave of men and they charged to Barren's Hold to demand answers. There - the only survivor of the 'orc ambush', the second in command, told them a harrowing story of how brave the commander faught and how it took many orc to bring him down. Dyson, as the only authority in the region, immediately appointed the second in command as the new Lord Commander of the garrison and arranged grand funerals for the fallen soldiers who faught so bravely against the orc ambushers. Slave raids into the Southlands were authorized to claim more workers to quarry the red limestone and haul it to the edge of the growing city where human workers would then use it to create the massive Citadel where the House of Karn would rule the land. Expansion Category:House Karn Category:History/South Marches Category:City/Barons Gate